Mexican Restaurants in Greenville

Matador Greenville brings a Mexican kitchen and a full bar together on South Main Street, in the heart of downtown Greenville. Both run late, until midnight through the week and one in the morning on Friday and Saturday. It is a mid-range spot that stays open well past dinner, which makes it as easy to drop into for a weeknight meal as for a later round while you are out downtown.

Cantina 76 sits on One City Plaza in the heart of downtown, with an outdoor patio whose tables look out over the square. Inside and out it keeps a casual, upbeat feel that pulls in a downtown mix: couples, coworkers on a lunch break, friends meeting after work for drinks. On a warm day the plaza seating fills fast, so it helps to time your visit. The hand-crafted margaritas are the headliner, built on fresh lime and agave and poured in variations like muddled strawberry and basil, with a bar stocked in premium tequilas behind them. The tacos are where the kitchen gets playful: reviewers keep singling out the blackened and jalapeno shrimp, the fish tacos, and a fried chicken taco that turns up in write-up after write-up. Sauces, salsas, and dressings are made in house daily, and the queso, guacamole, and salsa dip trio is a common opener. It is independently owned, one of a small group of South Carolina spots that began with college friends in Columbia. The visit runs quick and easygoing, lively when the room is full: an easy downtown lunch, or an unhurried evening over margaritas on the square.

Holy Mölli comes from Luis and Lydia Stark, a married couple who built the menu around Sinaloa, the coastal Mexican state they came from, where fresh seafood, ranch meat, and bright vegetables shape the cooking. The name plays on mole, and it hints at the whole idea: take Sinaloan food and let it wander into other cuisines. The clearest example is the Mexican sushi roll, an oversized roll packed with Mexican fillings, fried and sliced, lifted straight from the roadside sushi stands of the Mexican Pacific coast. The rest of the menu moves between tacos, seafood, and dishes that don't sit neatly in any one lane, which is the point. Sitting right on South Main downtown, it's a good pick when you want dinner with a little adventure to it, the kind of spot to bring friends who like ordering the thing they can't quite picture.